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Today, European Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King visited the headquarters of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, where he spoke with its Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri about the agency’s role in maintaining the EU’s internal security.

“Frontex has become an essential actor in law enforcement on the European level. The monitoring of the external borders and security checks play a vital part in ensuring internal security within the Schengen Area and the European Union,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.

In the first year under its reinforced mandate, Frontex has become a fully-fledged internal security actor with new responsibilities and extended scope of activities. The agency shares the intelligence it collects in all field activities with national authorities and Europol. In the future, it will also share this information with Eurojust, in line with the agency's new mandate.

Members of the European Border and Coast Guard teams deployed by Frontex at border crossing points and hotspots have gained access to various EU databases, including the Schengen Information System (SIS), which allows them perform more effective border checks. Front line officers deployed by Frontex are trained to detect potential foreign terrorist fighters at the external borders.

Since March 2016, Frontex has transmitted information to Europol details on several thousand people suspected of cross-border criminal activity. Officers taking part in Frontex operations contributed to the arrest of hundreds of people suspected of people smuggling and helped confiscate more than 90 tonnes of drugs.

Frontex has increased its contributions to EU-led operational actions in the fight against organised crime through European multidisciplinary platform against criminal threats (EMPACT) that are focused on combatting smuggling, human trafficking, excise fraud and document fraud.